Detroit River News

Should natural resources like the Great Lakes have the same legal right to protection from harm as a person has? Including the right to be free from exploitation as a commodity for financial gain? New York state Assemblyman Patrick Burke thinks so and has introduced formal legislation that would provide for those rights. Burke’s legislation, the

National parks serve as pilgrimage sites because they provide spaces that provide a degree of solitude and access to unique natural resources. Research has shown that these national parks also promote ecotourism, are an economic engine for local communities, protect biodiversity through conservation, and improve mental health and quality of life. Windsor’s proposed Ojibway National Urban

Residents are pushing back on plans to develop two concrete crushing and mixing plants, fearing operations at a proposed southwest Detroit facility could be fatal to their neighborhood urban farms and hurt the quality of life and, in the other instance, block a portion of the popular Detroit Riverwalk. In a letter to city leaders

A start-up company recently got design approval to build a ship that moves cargo with sails rather than fuel. But does it mean cargo vessels on the Great Lakes will be able to “veer” into alternative power? The 330-foot-long, hydrogen cell-powered sailing vessel is proposed by the Veer Group, a Bahamas-based company committed to zero

It’s a sunny October afternoon on Belle Isle, and about 80 middle school and high school students are getting ready to go canoeing. Only a few of them have been in a canoe before, and most haven’t been in any kind of boat. One by one, eight high school students from the Academy of the

This 2.4-square-mile city with 4.6 miles of waterfront aspires to be a recreational water destination Downriver. It’s getting millions in grants to support that dream. Plenty of help is being supplied from environmentalists, neighboring cities and residents who have volunteered hours of their time to clean up Ecorse Creek, long neglected amid decades of industrial

Environmental groups want to join a legal battle against a DTE Energy subsidiary accused of unlawfully polluting to ensure resident voices near the coal processing plant are heard. EES Coke Battery on Zug Island, where River Rouge and the Detroit River meet, is one of the state’s largest emitters of sulfur dioxide. The facility produces a byproduct

Pollution flowing from a Wyandotte chemical plant known as “one of the most complex cleanup sites” in the Metro Detroit region is delaying a major Detroit River remediation project, federal environmental officials said.  State environmental regulators raised alarm bells this spring about the BASF Corp. facility in Wyandotte, where up to 34,000 gallons of water runs through

With unparalleled views of the Detroit River and city beyond, Riverside Marina is a world-class club featuring rental facilities, a pool, boat storage, vessel maintenance and transportation. Under the leadership of Jason McGuire, it is well on its way to becoming the prestigious, Black-owned and operated destination its founders envisioned.

It was a mid-winter day, and I was driving to my Downriver home from a meeting in Detroit. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a group of 40-50 people standing along the Detroit River shoreline of Dingell Park in Ecorse, Michigan. My first thought was that they were watching waterfowl staging around

Detroit – the  Automobile Capital of the world – also has a remarkable and exciting story to tell when it comes to commuting on two wheels or two legs. The city is quickly becoming more walkable, bikeable, and connected. In fact, the Detroit Greenways Coalition has a 50-year vision in place to develop Detroit into

Three Wayne County communities bordered by major industrial facilities are getting an infusion of millions of dollars for environmental justice projects that advocates hope will reduce some of the effects of pollution. The projects in Ecorse, River Rouge and Detroit’s 48217 ZIP code will be funded through a $2 million settlement between the Sierra Club and DTE Energy Co. signed in 2020.

For years, I’ve enjoyed walking up this heap of earth, about two storeys high, near the downtown Riverwalk. It stands where the paved pedestrian and biking path veers from the river’s edge for several blocks to make way for William G. Milliken State Park and Harbor and The Aretha Franklin Amphitheatre. I recently discovered I’m not alone –

On the cool morning of April 25, doctoral student Eric Ste Marie from the University of Windsor’s department of integrative biology went out for a walk with his partner along the Detroit River prior to an anticipated long day in his lab. Much to his surprise, he saw an animal pop its head out of

Detroit City Council is trying to get the Detroit River included in a list of world heritage sites alongside the Great Wall of China, Stonehenge, and Yellowstone National Park. Local activists from Detroit and Windsor are pushing The United Nations Education and Scientific Cultural Organization to recognize the local landmark.

The man behind many of the nation’s beloved public spaces, Frederick Law Olmsted, was born 200 years ago on April 26. His creations, including Belle Isle in Detroit and Central Park in New York City, are more essential to modern American life than ever.

Work is officially underway on the Southwest Greenway. Construction of the city’s latest abandoned railway-turned-public park project will run through the summer. Located below street level, the Southwest Greenway makes use of an abandoned rail line, transformed as a shared-use bike path. Approximately one mile long, the Southwest Greenway will run from Corktown’s Bagley Street

The city and owner of a controversial dock that collapsed twice during the last three years are in court-supervised negotiations over bringing the property into compliance with local laws. The negotiations come after the city temporarily shut down the company in December, Revere Dock, and a second business, Detroit Bulk Storage, that leased the property. Meanwhile,

In 1972, Milwaukee had the good fortune to be sued by the state of Illinois. At the time, Milwaukee and several nearby cities were sending an estimated 200 million gallons annually of combined sewer overflow (CSO) – a mix of untreated or partially treated sewage and stormwater – into Lake Michigan during heavy rains. The fortunate part was that

The Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan is working on an agreement with groups in Canada to connect the developing “Great Lakes Way” tract of trails and waterways between Port Huron and Toledo to trails on the other side of the border through joint marketing — and potentially programming. The memorandum of understanding the Community Foundation is forging